Minnie Mouse Goes to Paris Fashion Week

Minnie Mouse has gone to Paris Fashion Week and Barneys has the film.  Minnie met up with some of the biggest names in fashion: Carine Roitfeld, Alber Elbaz, Anna dello Russo, Naomi Cambell...  I am just wondering what is Barneys trying to say?  That fashion can be a little cartoonish??  Well, maybe sometimes : )  Enjoy!  You can see the film at Barneys New York Madison Avenue store through the holidays.

Anna dello Russo

Carine Roitfeld

Bryan Boy, Suzy Menkes and Lady Gaga

Cathy Horyn, Daphne Guiness, Carine Roitfeld and Naomi Campbell (in Alaia!)

Alber Elbaz

Julien D'Ys and the fabulous Cruella de Ville

Carine Roirfeld, Naomi Cambell - and it looks like Minnie Mouse was not the only one to go to Paris - Cheshire Cat

Pat McGrath

Steven Meisel

Photos courtesy of Disney and Barneys.

Oh It's Magic: Kazuko

Oh, oh, oh it's magic, you know
Never believe it's not so
It's magic, you know
Never Believe, it's not so
-Magic by Pilot 1974

(and redone fabulously by Selena Gomez or so my daughter says - alright!  Truth be told, I have heard Selena Gomez's version and I actually like it better then the original. ) 

In my first post on the jeweler Kazuko I referred to the magic of her pieces.  And in speaking about Kazuko recently with two people who knew her very well, the word 'magic' came up again and again.  What was it that was so magical about her jewelry?  Was it that each piece was unique? That she had so much of herself invested in each piece that she created?

Here is an excerpt from a tribute that Simon Doonan from Barneys wrote for the New York Observer after she passed away:

'One steamy afternoon I was accosted on the sidewalk outside the Barney windows on Seventh Avenue.  The accoster was on this occasion a little fairy shrouded in black Yohji silks.  She told me her name was Kazuko Oshima, but everyone called her Kazuko.  She was a one-namer.

Kazuko said she liked the display, but felt it needed a veil.  From her purse, as if by magic, (there is that word again!!), she pulled out a massive chunk of silk tulle, the edges of which she had painstakingly stitched with rock crystals.  She waited outside the windows while I shooshed her creation over the head of the mannequin.  Voila!  We both agreed it was sugoi ("wow").'

After I was shown this substantial necklace, which was made especially for the original owner and was never available at Barneys, with its contrast of rough and smooth, all I could say was, oh, oh it's magic!

Kazuko gold wire wrapped crystal necklace and semi precious stones necklace.  

Why don't you wear it with... a flowing Madame Gres ensmeble a la Rosamond Bernier?

1970s Madame Gres at RARE vintage

Rosamond Bernier in Madame Gres and an oversized necklace in 1968:

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The Charming Kazuko

For as long as I can recall, I remember walking into Barneys from the Madison Avenue entrance and seeing a glass display case front and center with its magical and enticing display of jewelry made from spun gold and semi precious stones and crystals.  Then one day those pieces were gone, replaced by something else and I felt some of the magic was gone.  

Kazuko, like Madonna, who wore one of her tulle crystal embroidered scarves in the video "Like a Virgin", went by one name.

Madonna in a Kazuko crystal edged tulle veil in Like a Virgin

Her spun gold and crystal and stone bangles, pendants and charms became the must have accessory for women like Bianca Jagger and Gloria Vanderbilt.

I am happy to be able to offer a small collection of Kazuko's jewelry at RARE vintage, not far from Barney's New York on Madison Avenue I might add.  They can be bundled together and worn as a pendant or as pins.  Kazuko believed that everything happened for a reason and so do I.  Let the magic begin again...

Kazuko charms in gold and silver.  

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